Austin Majors

Paraeducator Reimbursement Program – FP 918 – has now been posted on iGrants. Districts and ESDs can now access the application and must submit their first update by April 21. Assistance opportunities and highlighted changes in the application can be found below.

The application has been updated with the following changes:

Three cohorts of paraeducators:

• New Paraeducators – 28 hours of training on Fundamental Course of Study (FCS)
• Continuing Paraeducators – 14 hours of training on FCS
• Continuing Paraeducators who completed the FCS – 14 hours of training on General Certificate

Final reports are now due October 2nd (instead of September 1 – based on district feedback)

• Districts that complete their training by June 30 can submit their final report by July 7
• Districts that submit by July 7 will be reimbursed on the September apportionment

In lieu of the external Spring survey, we are gathering data on paraeducators directly in the iGrants application itself. The two data areas include:

• Paraeducator vacancies
• Training hours that go unreimbursed in the all-or-nothing model

Ways to connect with us for assistance:

We are hosting two webinars to walk through completing the first report for this form package. Please register ahead of time using the following links:

Thursday, April 6 at 3:30 p.m.

Wednesday, April 12 at 10:30 a.m.

We will host additional webinars to support the next reporting deadlines. Dates will be announced closer to each deadline.

Please come with your questions, and we look forward to seeing you!

Can’t make it to one of the webinars above? The webinar will be recorded, sent to those that registered, and uploaded to our PESB YouTube Channel.

Other ways to connect:

Don’t forget about the weekly office hours open to implementation leaders.

Talk with us Tuesdays – 3:00-4:00 weekly: https://bit.ly/pesb_officehours_tues

Have paraeducators with questions? We have office hours for paraeducators too!

Questions Welcome Wednesdays – 3:00-4:00 p.m. weekly: https://bit.ly/pesb_officehours_wed

Beginning in 2022-23, districts must now provide all four days (28 hours) of FCS training to their paraeducators every school year. Previously, only two days were required. Read the announcement.

On Friday, March 25, members of the Professional Educator Standards Board unanimously approved to adopt the newest set of cultural competency, diversity, equity, and inclusion (CCDEI) standards for Washington educators. View the announcement.

We are accepting proposals from consultants interested in leading a project to review and revise the current curriculum for the Recruiting Washington Teachers (RWT) and Bilingual Educators Initiative (BEI) programs. View the announcement.

Agenda and materials are now available for our March board meetings. View the announcement.

We’re excited to announce a virtual paraeducator listening session on March 29, from 4 to 6 p.m. This event is an opportunity for our Paraeducator Board members to hear directly from paraeducators about their roles throughout the pandemic, and their experience receiving training on the Fundamental Course of Study and General Paraeducator Certificate. View the announcement.

We have reopened a grant opportunity to help improve student access to computer science and assist elementary educators in implementing computer science learning. Applications are due March 4. View the announcement.